lunch

American  

[luhnch] / lʌntʃ /

noun

1. a light midday meal between breakfast and dinner; luncheon.

2. any light meal or snack.

3. a restaurant or lunchroom.

   Let's eat at the dairy lunch.

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verb (used without object)

1. to eat lunch.

   We lunched quite late today.

verb (used with object)

1. to provide lunch for.

   They lunched us in regal fashion.

idioms

1. out to lunch, not paying attention or tending to business; negligent.

   You must have been out to lunch when you wrote that weird report.

lunch British  

/ lʌntʃ /

noun

1. a meal eaten during the middle of the day

2. (among older people) mid-afternoon tea

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verb

1. (intr) to eat lunch

2. (tr) to provide or buy lunch for

lunch More Idioms  

1. see eat someone alive (someone's lunch); free lunch; lose one's lunch; out to (lunch).

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Other Word Forms

• luncher
  noun
• lunchless
  adjective
• prelunch
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of lunch

First recorded in 1585–95; short for luncheon

Explanation

Lunch is the meal you eat in the middle of the day. If you only have a short lunch break during your school or work day, you might quickly eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The size of your lunch depends on what country you live in. In the US, most people eat a small lunch and a larger dinner at the end of the day. The word is a somewhat fancy verb, too: "Shall we lunch at the club, or have the cook make us something at home?" Lunch is a shortened version of luncheon, which may stem from the earlier dialectical lunch, "hunk of bread and cheese."

Example Sentences

Lunch was usually sacrificed to get up extra shots.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2026

Lunch, in this framing, is not a reward for productivity.

From Salon • Feb. 19, 2026

Crystal Castagnaro, also a Horse, is the director of enrichment at Lunch Brunch, a culinary education program for K-12 students in Southern California.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 10, 2026

Lunch was typically lentils, some pasta, or soup.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 18, 2025

Lunch wraps took flight and wheeled in the air like gulls.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson